Drawings of hidden memories and emotions by Damian Goidich

Damian Goidich is an artist currently living and working in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Damian had been a freelance illustrator for years when he decided to go to art school and get a degree in drawing. He’s been drawing ever since, creating pieces that have been displayed in many galleries across America. Damian is currently teaching classes in advanced figure drawing at Kendall College. Damian on his work:

“The focus of my work is based on memory and the act of remembering. Memories are an integral part of our daily inner-monologue, and the manner in which we revisit and interpret these memories continues to influence and partially define who we are in the present. When we engage in the act of remembering, our introspection leads to a hind-sighted recollection of sensations and memories. Reacting emotionally to the impressions contained by memory, one can never really remember the truth of the occurrence. The mind, in all its imperfections, will splinter past events and piece together only bits of the truth, for good or ill. What remains is a recollection based in part on fragmented reality and an amplification of distorted emotions.

Memories offer us a wide range of emotional experiences; there can be happiness, contentment and fondness for events in our past. But there is also the opposite end of the spectrum where discomfort lurks. Within the darker regions of our psyche dwell our most vulnerable memories and the accompanying range of emotions associated with them – feelings of guilt and shame, anger and resentment, longing and desperation. These are the emotions we keep hidden deep within us and do not readily bring to the surface. They are the motivation behind my work.”